The state Board of Regents will vote Monday on a proposed $7.3 million addition to the 2016-17 Iowa State tuition rates it approved in December. The increases include $300 for resident undergraduates, who had been looking at a tuition freeze; $100 for nonresident undergraduates and all graduate students; and $50 for all veterinary medicine students. The unusual summer adjustments come in response to an increase in state operating support for the year that began July 1 that's less than one-third of what university leaders sought.
If approved, the July and December tuition increases combined will generate an additional $33.8 million in revenue for this year's operating budget.
While officially the meeting is telephonic, it will be based in the Reiman Ballroom, ISU Alumni Center. It begins at 1 p.m. and is scheduled to last about one hour. Agenda items are online and audio of the meeting will be livestreamed on the board's website.
Other items for which ISU leaders will seek board approval include:
- The university's 2017-22 strategic plan
- The university's fiscal year 2017 budget
- New policy on non-tenure eligible clinical faculty
- New B.S. program in entrepreneurship in the College of Business (transitioning from a track in the management bachelor's degree program)
- Hardware/software purchase and three-year subscription and maintenance contract for a system by Infoblox that will better identify, accommodate and serve the expanding number of internet-capable devices on campus. The estimated cost of $1.8 million would be covered by university general funds.
- Sale of an estimated $23.5 million of bonds to advance refund $25 million in bonds sold in 2008 to pay for parts of two projects: the veterinary teaching hospital and diagnostic lab and Coover Hall addition/renovation. Lower interest rates today would save the university an estimated $1.7 million.
- Improvements to the president's home, the Knoll, that include: replacing the existing front entry stairs, sidewalks and ADA ramp; adding a sidewalk around the north (garage) side; replacing the current deck with a four-season porch that ties into the garden room and front entry; and adding a deck to the south side of the garden room. Gifts designated to the ISU Foundation for the Knoll would pay for the improvements, estimated at $525,000.
Board president Bruce Rastetter also is expected to share compensation changes for President Steven Leath and Iowa President Bruce Harreld. The board completed the leaders' performance evaluations at its June meeting. Northern Iowa's interim president (provost Jim Wohlpart) began in his temporary post on July 3.
